


On the Mechanical Hearts of Jaeger Pilots

by lilhex



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Pacific Rim AU, still very very much a wip or should i say rip me for taking this up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:50:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10039562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilhex/pseuds/lilhex
Summary: A battle-worn Ranger of heroic linage, a prodigeous scientist, and a legendary Jaeger to pilot. Romione Pacific Rim AU.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Somewhere in the world it's still March 1st so this is launching in sync with Ron's birthday. Just an introduction/first chapter of sorts to get things (and me) going; I hope you enjoy!

 

The men’s changing rooms were barely a good place for a verbal fight with Hermione Granger, and all the less so right after practice, with the smell of sweat turning the air heavy and steaming with humidity, but evidently not according to Hermione Granger, because according to Hermione Granger any time and place was a good time and place to have a fight with Ron Weasley.

And according to Ron Weasley?

According to Ron Weasley any given place and moment was bloody ideal to have a verbal fight with Hermione Granger.

Just not _this._ Not about _this_. Not her too. God no.

“I scored top marks on the simulator!” she hissed, gesturing wildly with her hands, words not enough anymore. “This is what I’ve wanted since I was a kid and _you know that_ , I’ve trained and spat blood to get to this day Weasley, so don’t you dare tell me all about how _you_ think ‘it’s a bad idea’!” she spat out, forming air quotes around the last phrase. There was a fury in her eye Ron had never seen before, but he was determined not to back down.

No matter how mad she got at him. He couldn’t.

“It is a bad idea,” he said, voice thick and trembling, “because you’re the genius we all need to save our asses _from headquarters_. We can’t afford to lose someone like you.”

“Oh, now you’re just being pathetic!” she performed an exaggerated eye roll before fixing her eyes on him again, murder glare on full-force “We're— _humanity_ is short on Rangers. I'm much more needed out there, I’m—”

“Haha, no. Look, we’re sort on human sacrifice stock and whatever, sure, but we’ve only got _one_ genius like you, Hermione, you can’t do this! D’you really think you can just throw your life out there like that?”

Her cheeks flushed redder and her eyes flashed, “Throw my life out there? _Throw my life out there?_ Is that how you’d describe yourself and your Rangers?” she demanded, high-pitched voice cracking at the edges. “All the battles you’ve fought, all the companions you’ve lost, _Harry_ —”

“ _No._ Stop it.” He fidgeted angrily with his towel, mentally kicking himself for not having seen the Harry bomb coming. “Don’t— just… don’t _do_ that, Hermione, it’s suicide and you’re too smart to go like that, I— I won’t have it!”

“Won’t _have_ it?” she spat his own words right back at him again, closer to tears than ever before. “Oh, but I’m not _asking_! This is what I’ve been training for, and I’m _bloody good at it_ — you’d be lucky to find a candidate with a score as good as mine anytime soon—”

“Wait. H-how many drops?” he asked, knowing full well he was to regret it shortly.

“5o. That’d be 100%,” she announced, twisting her mouth in an ugly grimace that would only emphasize her anger if only it hadn’t been that thinly veiled an attempt at fighting down a boastful grin.

Ron himself was not that ready to fight his own expression from giving away his surprise.

“Impressive,” he admitted. “But still no,” he continued, tossing his towel over his shoulder. “Just… look, you… your place is here, okay?”

“My place… oh great, what does _that_ mean now?” Eyebrows raised in mock surprise, mouth wide open to set back an argument, she seemed ready to strike down and destroy him, but he would not hesitate this time.

“I mean right here, helping humanity with the Jaeger program and studying Kaijus, because you’re fucking better at it than the rest of us, _goddamnit_ , and we can’t afford to lose someone like you!”

“This is not for you to decide,” she whispered, chest rising and falling heavily, eyes reduced to slits. “I haven’t had a ‘ _place’_ of my own since I was eleven, you and I bloody well know that. And now I have one of the best scores in the simulator _of all time_ , so tell me now how my decision to join the fight I’ve been born into is, as you put it, _a bad idea._ ”

He took a deep breath, fixing his eyes at a half-open locker behind her, before looking at the busy-haired materialized rage in front of him. Another deep breath, another small white puff emitting from his mouth. The persistent sounds of the showers dripping were suddenly too piercing. But he had to do this. He had to.

“Hermione,” he began, and his voice, for once, did not echo around the room. “ _Anyone_ can Drift. But this— all the things you can do, brains like yours? That’s… that’s one in a million. Look, if it weren’t for your experiments and innovations and- and everything, we’d still be— we’d be so many steps back. So many _victories_ back. As if it’s not bad enough every time we lose a Ranger…” he caught her eye and had to look away again. When she didn’t speak, he began again, hoping against hope his voice wouldn’t crack, and only sniffing his nose when it failed him:

“Look, I won’t… even if we are…” he turned towards her “I won’t co-pilot with you. I don’t want that for you, it’s—”

“Oh shut up! Shut up!” she erupted anew, all the wrath he thought had began to settle in her rising up and threatening to shallow him whole as she pointed a threatening finger at him, tears finally forming at the corners of her eyes. “I _will_ pilot a Jaeger, even if it’s the last thing I do!”

“Might as well be,” he murmured, so that she heard him.

“—and your weak arse won’t stop me, Weasley! In two hours’ time I’ll walk into the candidate trials and we _will_ spar. And should I be announced your co-pilot-” she was threateningly close now, “which I might as well be, given…” she stopped abruptly and flushed even brighter. Suddenly aware she had been violating his personal space, she pulled back, cleared her throat and tidied her hair behind her ears, ears almost as red as Ron’s. “I’ll fight for humanity’s sake. On a Jaeger this time. And if you and I are not drift compatible…” (Ron looked up so they made eye contact at the worst possible moment, but she ignored that) “…then fine. But I won’t give up. I’ll be in a Jaeger one day. And you don’t get to stop me— screw _that,_ Weasley, you don’t even get to have a _say_ in this!”

Ron swallowed heavily. He tried to focus on breathing, mind working fast… but he was no match to her.

“You need a co-pilot anyway,” he heard her say, her voice softer than he’d heart it in weeks. “And if it’s not me, it’ll be someone else. Hell, maybe they’ll get one of your brothers over from Alaska— or _Ginny_.”

“No,” he said as firmly as he could muster. “You don’t get to do this. I just… I can’t…” he took another deep breath that left his body shaky, and he looked at her as he stood there, tears of rage she was too proud to wipe running down her face and marveled at all the power bristling through her, all of the fight still left in her.

“I can’t let you do this…” he whispered at last, eyes fixed down and blinking hard.

The dripping noises were now really piercing his ears; the humidity was scratching his skin. Even the sound of her breathing was beginning to annoy him.

“He was my friend too,” she said, and he flinched.

“I know,” he said, still not looking up, but he heard her stepping closer towards him until a cold, small hand took his own.

He jumped violently back, shaking himself free, and regretting it instantly. But still, he could not bring himself to get away. They both stood awkwardly apart.

“You win,” he said finally, “I can’t stop you. But I can’t support this either.” He shook his head. “I can’t.”

Hermione nodded. He didn’t look up to see her leave, and didn’t move for a long time after she was gone.


End file.
